Modern Wax: New Art From Old Beginnings
May 18 – July 8, 2014
Artist reception: June 29, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
The exhibition title refers to both the ancient history of encaustic and the extraordinary versatility of this medium, making it the perfect vehicle for modern artistic experimentation, encouraging freewheeling combinations of methods and materials and the blurring of lines between sculpture, painting, photography and printmaking. From the curators’ perspective, a grand historic setting such as Highfield Hall is an intriguing venue for present-day art, quite different from the usual “white box” gallery, and our goal is to create an artistic confrontation between the formal and elegant architectural details of the exhibition space and bold, contemporary encaustic art.
About the Curators:
Barb Cone is co-founder of MassWax, the New England Chapter of International Encaustic Artists and co-founder of Lapin Press in Somerville, MA. She co-curated an international exhibition of historical and contemporary encaustic art at the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts in 2012, and co-curated exhibitions at the Grossman Gallery, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the New Art center at Newton, MA. As a multidisciplinary visual artist, her artwork includes video, sculpture, installation, photography, printmaking, and encaustic. For the past 20 years, Cone has exhibited her artwork in major cities across the U.S. and abroad. Click here to visit Barb Cone’s website
Amalia Tagaris, a Boston based artist, was trained in professional photography at the New England School of Photography and is self-taught in encaustic and mixed media art. She first started painting with encaustic in 2009. Her introductory work with the encaustic medium combined her passion for photographic imagery with the luminous, textural qualities of encaustic. Today, she continues the exploration of the medium by incorporating oil paint, inks, carbon prints on silk tissue and a variety of other mixed media in her paintings. A true New Englander with European roots and traditions, her perspective is enriched by the marriage of both worlds. She is deeply influenced by the beauty and mystery of our daily surroundings. Amalia received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Bentley College in Waltham, MA. She has been a member of MassWax, a New England based encaustic artist organization, since 2011 and has been serving as a Board member since 2012. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and is owned by corporate and private collections in the United States and Canada. Amalia teaches encaustic and mixed media workshops out of her private studio in Needham, MA and exhibits frequently in the Boston area.
Click here to visit Amalia Tagaris’ website
About the Exhibition Juror:
Amy Husten, formerly special projects director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City and Executive Director for the project, Walkway Over the Hudson, is currently Director of Development at Bard College.
